The Dirt on Public Archaeology

After last month's trio of blogs, I
wanted to keep my holiday theme rolling. So before we all scurry off
to family, rest, and way too much food, it's time for me to deliver my gift to
you for this holiday season: an interview with the City of St. Augustine's
legendary archaeologist, Carl Halbirt. He had such
great insight to share that I’ve broken the interview into three parts.The first entry shines a light on
the City’s archaeology ordinance.

St. Augustine City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt has conducted hundreds of excavations throughout the oldest city.

The City just celebrated the 25th anniversary of
putting its archaeology ordinance in place. What do you think it has
meant to St. Augustine to have the ordinance in place?

The
benefits that have resulted from the City of St. Augustine’s (CoSA)
Archaeological Preservation Ordinance having been in place these past 25 years
are numerous. Foremost, the ordinance has preserved through documentation
St. Augustine’s archaeological heritage prior to development. Without the
foresight, as well as continuing support, of community activists and city
government it is unfathomable to think of what would have gone unrecorded and lost.
This brings up another aspect of the ordinance, which involves community
awareness and appreciation that St. Augustine’s history is not limited to what
is visible both above ground and in print, but what is buried. As the
city has been continuously occupied for more than 400 years, the earlier record
has been erased by later occupations. Through archaeological
investigations conducted under the auspices of the City’s ordinance, various
research issues have been addressed, such as developing a model illustrating
how St. Augustine evolved and how space was being utilized over time. The
ordinance is not just about excavating sites and recovering artifacts, it also
is about public outreach.

Carl engages the public by using an all-volunteer excavation crew, offering presentations, and answering questions as people encounter him on site.

Are you familiar with any other archaeology ordinances or
programs throughout the country? If so, how do they compare to
ours?

There are
about a dozen or so local governments within the United States that have some
sort of mechanism that that responds to
new construction. Some regulations are limited to just public
property. Others are more comprehensive. The one thing that
separates St. Augustine from other communities is that archaeology here has
been incorporated into the city’s comprehensive plan. As such, it is part
of the planning process.

St. Augustine’s ordinance is one of the few in the country
that applies to private and public property. How is that piece
significant to understanding our past?

Our ability to
understand St. Augustine’s archaeological heritage is made possible by
the ordinance being applicable to both public and private property.
A large percentage of archaeological work conducted in the United States is on
public property, which has been the case for decades. The City’s ordinance
is progressive in that its framers realized that to limit its application to
just public property would overlook large portions of the city that contained
significant archaeological deposits, such as much of the colonial downtown
district and areas containing both prehistoric and historic 18th-century
Native American communities.

You’ve excavated hundreds of sites all over the city.
What is left to learn? What are you still most curious about?

Every time an archaeological project
occurs within the city limits something new is learned: no matter what size the
development or how many times the city has investigated the property.
Although more than 650 archaeological projects have been undertaken within the
city limits, these projects are limited to just the area of development.
Thus, if a property owner builds a house one year and installs a swimming pool
the next, each construction involves an archaeological investigation. For
that reason, discovery is a constant in St. Augustine. Although I
am partial to the colonial period (i.e., 1565 to 1821), my interests span the
entire saga of human history within the St. Augustine area, which encompasses
roughly 10,000 years. Some fascinating information has been uncovered
relevant to the later prehistoric occupations, which date from 4,000 to 500
years ago, especially the layout of villages and material culture (i.e.,
artifacts) attributes.

How do you see the ordinance functioning in the
future?

Except for one revision three years after the
ordinance was passed on December 10, 1986, and a few additions that have
occurred over the past 20 years, the ordinance is a viable document that
ensures that St. Augustine’s archaeological heritage is preserved through
documentation prior to new ground-penetrating construction. As such, the
criteria the ordinance established for determining when an archaeological
response is necessary will likely remain the same. The only modifications
may involve refining
archaeological zone boundaries, which reflect
the accumulation of information collected over the past 25 years and was
not available when the ordinance was initially drafted.

A map of St. Augustine's archaeological zones.

Will there still be sites to explore?

Of course! Although
650 projects have been implemented, only a fraction of the total number of lots
within the defined archaeological zones have been tested. Moreover, only
portions of most of the lots have been examined. There is a lot more that can be learned about St.
Augustine from the archaeological data.

Carl and his crew have excavated at Cathedral Parish School on seven separate occasions over the years, yet so much of the site's resources remain unexplored.

How long do you think St. Augustine will benefit from having
a City Archaeologist in many years to come?

From now until Florida is
reclaimed by the sea! There is no place else in the country that has the depth
or breadth of archaeological resources like St. Augustine. Its
archaeological heritage is a microcosm of American history reflecting the
cultural “melting pot” that is the United States. This process has been
continuous for more than 400 years. Having the position of City Archaeologist
helps to insure that those buried resources have a “voice” in city government decision making and action.